From the Diary of Anne Frank – NCERT Solutions

Q. What makes writings in a diary a strange experience for Anne Frank?

Ans. Anne Frank was a thirteen-year old German-born Jewish girl. Writing in a diary was a really strange experience for her because she had never written anything before. Secondly, neither she nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a girl later on.

Q. Why does Anne want to keep a diary?

Ans. Anne didn’t have any real friend to share her feelings and thoughts. She wanted to get all kinds of things off her chest. That prompted her to keep a diary.

Q. Why did Anne think she could confide more in her diary than in people?

Ans. Anne thinks that paper has more patience than people. She could freely write whatever she likes to write. Sometimes one may not think it proper to tell others, including one’s friends, about certain secret affairs or private feelings. Some people may get bored with what one wants to convey. Even closest friends may not have the patience to listen to what is passing in your mind. They may let out your secrets to others, which are quite embarrassing. But a diary never loses patience. So Anne says that she could confide more in a diary than in people.

Q. Why does Anne provide a brief sketch of her life?

Ans. Anne provides a brief sketch of her life because no one would understand a word of her stories without knowing her background.

Q. What tells you that Anne loved her grandmother?

Ans. Anne’s grandmother died in 1942. She missed her very much. She tells us, ‘‘No one knows how often I think of her and still love her’’. This tells us that Anne loved her grandmother.

Q. Why was Mr. Keesing annoyed with Anne? What did he ask her to do?

Ans. Mr. Keesing was Anne’s maths teacher. He was annoyed with her because she talked so much in the class. After several warnings, he gave her extra homework. He asked her to write an essay on the subject ‘A Chatterbox’.

Q. How did Anne justify her being a chatterbox in her essay?

Ans. Anne wanted to give convincing arguments to prove the necessity of talking. She went on thinking. Suddenly, she had an idea. She wrote three pages. She argued that talking was a student’s trait. However, she would do her best to keep it under control. She wrote that she would never be able to cure herself of the habit. The reason was that her mother talked as much as she did. Besides, there was not much one could do about inherited traits.

Q. Do you think Mr. Keesing was a strict teacher?

Ans. Yes, Mr. Keesing was a strict teacher. He did not allow students to talk in the class. If anyone did so, he punished them. This is borne out by Anne’s example. She talked too much in the class. Mr. Keesing punished her by giving extra homework. He asked her to write an essay on the subject ‘‘A Chatterbox’’.

Q. What made Mr. Keesing allow Anne to talk in class?

Ans. Anne did not stop talking in the class even after being given extra homework to do. So Mr. Keesing asked her to write an essay on ‘Quack, Quack, Quack’, said Mistress Chatterbox. She wanted to write something original. Her friend, Sanne, offered to write the essay in verse. Mr. Keesing was trying to play a joke on her by giving her to write an essay on such a ridiculous subject. Now the joke was on him. The poem was about a father swan biting his three baby ducklings to death because they quacked too much. Mr. Keesing took the joke in the right spirit. Since then, he had allowed Anne to talk in the class.

Q. Was Anne right when she said that the world would not be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old girl?

Ans. No, Anne was not right when she said that the world would not be interested in the musings of a thirteen year old girl. Her diary became very popular and was widely read. It was published after her death and was translated into several languages.

Q. There are some examples of diary or journal entries in the ‘Before You Read’ section. Compare these with what Anne writes in her diary. What language was the diary originally written in? In what way is Anne’s diary different?

Ans. Though Anne was only thirteen when she started writing her diary, yet she became very famous when her diary was published after her death. It was translated into several languages and became one of the most popular books in the world. It was originally written in the Dutch language. Anne’s diary is different in the sense that it is partly a diary and partly a memoir and something of a log also.

Q. Why does Anne need to give a brief sketch about her family? Does she treat ‘Kitty’ as an insider or an outsider?

Ans. Anne was a thirteen–year old girl. She has no true friend in her life with whom she could share her own thoughts and personal feelings and experiences. She named the diary ‘Kitty’, which became an insider. She thought that no body would understand what she had written in her diary. So she thought it better to give a brief sketch about her family.

Q. How does Anne feel about her father, her grandmother, Mrs. Kuperus and Mr. Keesing? What do these tell you about her?

Ans. Anne respected her father and loved her grandmother. She missed her very much after her death in 1942. She was greatly attached to the head mistress of her school, Mrs. Kuperus. She started weeping when she had to bid farewell to her at the end of the year when she left school. Mr. Keesing was a strict teacher. He punished her for being talkative. However later Anne was able to bring about a change in his attitude because of her tact. All these show that Anne loved and respected her elders and teachers. She was both sensible and sensitive.

Q. What does Anne write in her first essay?

Ans. Anne was given the task of writing an essay on the subject ‘‘A Chatterbox’’. She wanted to improve the necessity of talking. She wrote an essay of three pages. She argued that talking was a student’s trait. She wrote that she would never be able to cure herself of it. The reason was that her mother talked as much as she did. So, there was not much she could do about inherited traits.

Q. Anne says teachers are most unpredictable. Is Mr. Keesing unpredictable? How?

Ans. Teachers are most unpredictable in the sense that they might lose their temper over a trifle in the classroom and sometimes might ignore major acts of mischief by a student. Mr. Keesing was also unpredictable. In the beginning he was very strict and punished Anne for being talkative by asking her to write essays on topics that were unpredictable. But after the third essay his attitude to Keesing changed and he became very lenient. He never punished her after that and allowed her to talk in the class. Teachers are also unpredictable in the sense that they can be strict or lenient about awarding marks to students.

Q. What do these statements tell you about Anne Frank as a person?

  1. We don’t seem to be able to get any closer, and that’s the problem. Maybe it’s my fault that we don’t confide in each other.
  2. I don’t want to jot down the facts in a diary the way most people would, but I want the diary to be my friend.
  3. Margot went to Holland in December, I followed in February, when I was plunked down on the table as a birthday present for Margot.
  4. If you ask me, there are so many dummies that about a quarter of the class should be kept back, but teachers are the most unpredictable creatures on earth.
  5. Anyone could ramble on and leave big spaces between the words, but the trick was to come up with convincing arguments to prove the necessity of talking.

Answer

  1. Anne is reserved and does not hesitate to own a fault.
  2. She would like to do things in her own way. She doesn’t copy others. She would record her inmost thoughts and feelings in her diary.
  3. Anne Frank had no stable life.
  4. This sentence shows that Anne is a very frank girl. She freely expresses her opinion about her class fellows as well as teachers.
  5. Anne is no rambler. She is a serious girl who wants to do her best in whatever she does.

Q. Match the compound words under ‘A’ with their meanings under ‘B’. Use each in a sentence.

A B
1. Heart breaking – obeying and respecting the law
2. Homesick – think about pleasant things, forgetting about the present
3. Blockhead – something produced by a person, machine or organisation
4. Law-abiding – producing great sadness
5. Overdo – an occasion when vehicles/machines stop working
6. Daydream – an informal word which means a very stupid person
7. Break down – missing home and family very much
8. Output – do something to an excessive degree

Answer

A B
1. Heart breaking – producing great sadness
2. Homesick – missing home and family very much
3. Blockhead – an informal word which means a very stupid person
4. Law-abiding – obeying and respecting the law
5. Overdo – do something to an excessive degree
6. Daydream – think about pleasant things, forgetting about the present
7. Break down – an occasion when vehicles/machines stop working
8. Output – something produced by a person, machine or organisation

Statements:

  1. We listened to heart breaking stories.
  2. She was feeling very homesick.
  3. You can’t expect a correct answer from such a blockhead.
  4. I am a law-abiding citizen.
  5. He was trying to be helpful but he rather overdid it.
  6. He sat there day-dreaming.
  7. My car broke down on the way when I was going to Delhi.
  8. The average output of the factory is 20 cars per day.

Q . The text you’ve just read has a number of phrasal verbs commonly used in English. Look up the following in a dictionary for their meanings (under the entry for the italicised word).

  1. plunge (right) in
  2. ramble on
  3. kept back
  4. get along with

Answer

  1. plunge (right) in — push quickly.
  2. kept back — to withhold, not to promote.
  3. ramble on — walking or talking at length in a confused way.
  4. got along with — to move forward.

Q. Now find the sentences in the lesson that have the phrasal verbs given below. Match them with their meanings.

(i) plunge in (a) speak or write without focus
(ii) kept back (b) stay indoors
(iii) move up (c) make (them) remain quiet
(iv) ramble on (d) have a good relationship with
(v) get along with (e) give an assignment (homework) to a person in authority (the teacher)
(vi) calm down (f) compensate
(vii) stay in (g) go straight to the topic
(viii) make up for (h) go to the next grade
(ix) hand in (i) not promoted.

Answers

(i) (g) (ii) (i) (iii) (h) (iv) (a) (v) (d) (vi) (c) (vii) (b) (viii) (f) (ix) (e)

Q. Here are a few sentences from the text which have idiomatic expressions. Can you say what each means?

  1. Our entire class is quacking in its boots. _____________________________________
  2. Until then, we keep telling each other not to lose heart. _____________________________________
  3. Mr Keesing was annoyed with me for ages because I talked so much. _______________________
  4. Mr Keesing was trying to play a joke on me with this ridiculous subject, but I’d make sure the joke was on him _________________________________

Answer

  1. all the students were nervous.
  2. not to stop believing that you can succeed.
  3. for a long time.
  4. a person who tried to make somebody else took foolish now looks ridiculous instead.

Q. Here are a few more idiomatic expressions that occur in the text. Try to use them in sentences of your own.

  1. caught my eye
  2. laugh ourselves silly
  3. he’d had enough
  4. can’t bring myself to

Answer

  1. All of a sudden the beautiful pen caught my eye.
  2. I have had enough before I think of going there.
  3. On seeing her dancing, we laughed ourselves silly.
  4. I can’t bring myself to touch it.

Q. Now find out the meanings of the following expressions using the word ‘heart’. Use each of them in a sentence of your own.

  1. break somebody’s heart
  2. close/dear to hear
  3. from the (bottom of your) heart
  4. have a heart
  5. have a heart of stone
  6. your heart goes out to somebody

Answer

  1. (to crush someone with grief): When Rahul failed, it broke the heart of his parents.
  2. (of deep interest and concern to one): My friend is very close to my heart.
  3. (with sincere feelings): I love her from the bottom of my heart.
  4. (to show courage): Don’t be disappointed have a heart and try again.
  5. (to be a cruel person): The policeman had a heart of stone.
  6. (to show love and concern for somebody): My heart goes out to the poor who have to go hungry.

Q. Make a list of the contracted forms in the text. Rewrite them as full forms of two words. For example: I’ve = I have

Answer

  1. There’s = There is
  2. It’s = It is
  3. Don’t = Do not
  4. Didn’t = Did not
  5. I’ve = I have
  6. I’d = I would, I had
  7. You’re = You are, you were
  8. I’m = I am

Q. Find in the text the contracted forms that stand for two different full forms, and say what these are.

Answer

  1. I’d = I would, I had
  2. You’re = You are, you were

Q. Try to make this extract sound more like a real conversation by changing some of the verbs back into contracted forms. Then speak out the lines.

[The door is flung open, and several men tramp in. They carry sticks, and one of them, HOB, has a hammer.]

HOB: Now where is your husband, mistress?
MARY: In his bed. He is sick, and weary. You would not harm him!
HOB: We are going to smash his evil work to pieces. Where is the machine?
SECOND MAN: On the table yonder.
HOB: Then here is the end of it!
[HOB smashes the model. Mary screams.]
HOB: And now for your husband!
MARY: Neighbours, he is a sick man and almost a cripple. You would not hurt him!
HOB: He is planning to take away our daily bread… We will show him what we think of him and his ways!
MARY: You have broken his machine… You have done enough…

Answer

HOB: Now where’s your husband, mistress?
MARY: In his bed, he’s sick, and weary. You won’t harm him!
HOB: We’re going to smash his evil work to pieces. Where’s the machine?
SECOND MAN: On the table yonder.
HOB: Then here’s the end of it!
[Hob smashes the model. Mary screams.]
HOB: And now for your husband!
MARY: Neighbours, he’s a sick man and almost a cripple. You won’t hurt him!
HOB: He’s planning to take away our daily bread… We’ll show him what we think of him and his ways.
MARY: You’ve broken his machine… You’ve done enough…

Q. Your teacher will read out an extract from The Diary of Samuel Pepys about the great fire of London. As you listen complete this summary of the happenings.

Summary

This entry in the diary had been made on _______________ by _______________ . The person who told Pepys about the fire was called _______________ . She called at _______________ in the morning. Pepys went back to sleep because _______________ . Pepys rose again at _______________ in the morning. By then about _______________ houses had been burned down. The fire had spread to _______________ by London Bridge. Pepys then walked to the _______________ along with Sir J. Robinson’s _______________ .

Answer

This entry in the diary has been made on September 2nd (Lord’s Day) by Samuel Pepys. The person who told Pepys about the fire was called Jane. She called at about three in the morning. Pepys went back to sleep because the fire was on the backside of Marke-Lane at the farthest. Pepys rose again at seven in the morning. By then about 300 houses had been burned down. The fire had spread to all fish market by London Bridge. Pepys then walked to the Tower along with Sir J. Robinson’s little son.

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